Chapter 57

Lumian rolled backward for a distance before standing up again.

The sudden scream that erupted and abruptly cut off reassured him a lot.

However, he did not let his guard down. With his hunting rifle on his back and his axe in hand, he cautiously approached the completely collapsed house.

Dust swirled in the air, lingering for a long time without settling.

Standing outside, Lumian could not see the monster's body, which proved that it had been completely buried. In the current environment, his sense of smell was greatly weakened, and he could not help but raise a hand to cover his nose, preventing it from being irritated by the dust.

Faced with this situation, Lumian took seven or eight steps back, maintaining a sufficiently safe distance from the target, and patiently waited for the dust to settle.

While waiting, he constantly observed the surroundings, wary of any shallow footprints that might suddenly appear and the rapid approach of various scents.

Finally, the air became "fresh" again, and his vision was no longer obstructed.

Lumian approached the building once more, following the trail of the blood scent, and found the monster that had been buried under layers of heavy stones.

Since there was no rush, he relied on his "Hunter" talent, carefully removing the stones in a specific order to prevent secondary collapses.

At the same time, he remained vigilant, guarding against the possibility that the monster was still alive and waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Another heavy stone was removed, and Lumian saw the monster whose head and neck had transformed into a vortex-like "mouth."

It lay on its back, its flesh and blood mangled, its chest pressed against its back, and its "mouth" full of sharp teeth impaled on a pointed stone fragment. Several of its deep black tentacles, covered in a layer of flesh, were broken.

If not for its distinctive features, Lumian might not have recognized this semi-solid, highly viscous mass of flesh as his target.

This was even better than he had expected!

After initially confirming that the monster was completely dead, Lumian focused on its chest and noticed that the three black marks were still clearly visible.

How strange... Even in the world of mysticism, this should be rare, right? Despite being tutored by his sister for a long time, Lumian still lacked a lot of knowledge and could only make certain judgments based on his intuition.

He had originally planned to use a small knife to peel off the skin where the black marks were, but the trap's effect was too good, and the skin on the monster's entire chest was completely damaged, pressed into the flesh, making it impossible to peel off.

After a few seconds of consideration, he tore open the inner layer of his linen shirt, ripped off a piece of fabric, and placed it in front of him, using it as paper.

Next, he tore off another strip of fabric, wrapped it around his index finger, and dipped it in the monster's blood—whether this could completely isolate any potential contamination or toxicity was not a major concern for him. If anything went wrong, he could quickly leave the dream, and since the damage that could be brought into reality was minimal, he should be able to fully recover in a few hours or half a day.

Using the monster's blood as ink, Lumian began to trace the three black marks.

As he drew, he suddenly felt dizzy, and a throbbing pain appeared on his forehead.

Based on the common knowledge taught by Aurel and his own assessment of his condition, Lumian believed that his spiritual energy was almost depleted, and he found the reason:

"Just by tracing these three marks, my spiritual energy is almost drained?"

On one hand, he was surprised by the strangeness of the black marks, and on the other, he was shocked by the low spiritual energy limit of a "Hunter," which was only slightly better than that of a talented normal person.

After resting for a while, Lumian continued to trace the marks. It took him three intermittent sessions to complete the work, and his head throbbed.

In such a state, he could not do any further exploration and could only put away the fabric, pick up his axe, and return to his home on the other side of the wilderness.

After leaving the ruins and relaxing a bit, he suddenly felt that the "Hunter" potion had been digested further.

"Looks like it was a successful hunt just now..." Lumian muttered.

The summary he had experienced but not yet organized surfaced in his mind:

"Calmness is very important... When you suddenly encounter prey and don't have time to prepare, calmness is even more important.

"Always observe the environment and think about how to use it."

With these thoughts, Lumian returned home, went upstairs to the second floor, and entered his bedroom.

He forced himself to remember the marks for a while before collapsing on the bed and falling into a deep sleep.

...

The next morning, when Lumian woke up, his temples still felt a bit swollen, a sign of excessive spiritual energy consumption in the dream ruins.

He shook his head, left the room, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

When he went downstairs, he found that his sister had already prepared breakfast—toast with jam, sliced sausages, and a strong cup of coffee.

"So early?" Lumian exclaimed in surprise.

His sister rarely got up early.

Aurel responded with a lack of enthusiasm:

"Since we've discovered that we're in a time loop and the people around us are getting stranger and more terrifying, how can you still sleep well? I can't sleep well."

"I can't help it either." Lumian comforted his sister. "At least you can still sleep. I have to be busy in my dreams."

"That's true." Aurel picked up her coffee, which had half a packet of sugar, and took a sip.

After her brother sat down and ate most of the toast and sausages, she asked:

"What did you gain from exploring the dream ruins this time?"

Lumian recounted the entire process of his encounter with the monster and concluded:

"Aurel, uh, sister, can you help me figure out what those three black marks represent? At the end of the Lenten celebration, the parish priest also had similar marks, and there were more of them."

Aurel nodded lightly and took out a fountain pen and a notepad from the hidden pocket of her beige waistcoat.

Lumian quickly drew the black marks, not entirely accurately.

Soon, he handed the notepad to his sister and "introduced" it:

"I only remembered a few times, and some parts I'm not sure about, but some are definitely correct, here, here, and here, are all fine."

Just by reproducing part of the marks, his spiritual energy was consumed again.

Aurel placed the notepad on the table in front of her and focused on it for a while before saying:

"These characters are not any that I recognize, and the corresponding symbols are more distorted than those commonly seen in mysticism."

Lumian was a bit disappointed, but Aurel added:

"From the influence of the extraordinary characters and symbolic marks on the surroundings and the traces of the manipulation of natural forces, I suspect this is an external manifestation of a special contract."

She pointed at the notepad with her index finger as she spoke.

"Contract?" Lumian asked.

Aurel nodded:

"Considering your battle with the monster, each black mark should represent a special contract.

"The function of these contracts might be to help it obtain extraordinary abilities from certain spiritual beings, extraterrestrial beings, or alien beings. So, the black mark on its left chest glowed, providing invisibility, the one below its neck corresponded to a voice that caused irritation, anger, and loss of reason, and the one on its right chest, which showed no effect, I suspect is related to the 'mouth,' tentacles, or digestion."

"No wonder..." Lumian immediately understood some details of the previous battle.

He then laughed:

"The parish priest signed contracts with different beings?

"What is this? This means everyone can be his father!"

"Strange description." Aurel muttered, "Now it seems that the parish priest, who fought you at the end of the Lenten celebration, did not show even a tenth of his true strength. He only used one of the abilities he obtained through the contracts, and his body and mind lost control, leaving him at your mercy."

Lumian, who did not understand in the previous loops, now clearly felt the luck he had at the time.

He asked eagerly:

"Can I trace the contracts from the monster to establish contact with the corresponding beings?"

He was very envious of the "invisibility" ability.

"Contracts are contracts, and rituals are rituals. Do you know how to perform the rituals?" Aurel poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "Even if you master the rituals, do you know what the cost of these special contracts is? The parish priest probably completed them with the favor of a hidden existence..."

At this point, Aurel suddenly paused for a second and said to herself:

"Why do the monsters in your dream ruins also have these black marks... Did they also receive the favor of that existence?"

As she spoke, Aurel looked at Lumian's left chest:

"Could it be related to the black thorn symbol that locks your heart?

"The parish priest also has it, yes... The dream ruins might have been created by the hidden existence represented by the thorn symbol, and the key to breaking the loop might be hidden there, or, under certain conditions, performing the same action in reality and the dream ruins simultaneously might solve the problem..."

"Possible." Lumian felt this could explain why the monsters also had black marks and why the mysterious lady wanted him to explore the dream ruins and try to uncover its secrets.

He then sighed:

"Aurel, uh, sister, your imagination is indeed much richer than mine."

"This is a writer's self-cultivation." Aurel smiled.

After breakfast, she took Lumian to the study to teach him Hermes.

They continued until around three or four in the afternoon, only taking a casual break to eat something in between.

"Alright, you can go out to have a drink with Pierre Berry now." Aurel, seeing the time was right and would not raise suspicion, instructed Lumian.

Lumian nodded and, with concern, reminded her:

"You must be careful."

His sister was going to take a risk by approaching the three sheep to gather information.

...

In the dilapidated two-story house where the shepherd Pierre Berry lived.

Lumian looked around and asked the old woman in front of him:

"Where is Pierre?"

The old woman was Pierre Berry's mother, named Marti. She was only in her early fifties, but due to hard work, she had many wrinkles, spots on her skin, and gray hair, making her look not much younger than Naloka.

"He went to the church." Marti replied.

Went to the church again? Lumian was startled.